TARPEH HONORED AS CACC MEN'S SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
NEW HAVEN, CT (October 28, 2009) - Wilmington University senior forward Sargbah Tarpeh has been named the 2009 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Men's Soccer Player of the Year in balloting released today. Philadelphia University's Ryan Purnell was tabbed Rookie of the Year, while Wilmington's Nick Papanicolas was voted Coach of the Year. Caldwell College won the annual Team Sportsmanship Award. The conference's 12 head coaches conducted the voting for the All-Conference team.
Tarpeh, a 5-11 senior forward from Philadelphia, PA, currently
leads all of Divison II with 21 goals
and is tied for first with 11 assists. His 53 points is a CACC
Division II era single-season record, and he is one goal short of
the single-season mark. Tarpeh has led Wilmington to a No. 3
ranking in the East Region and the Wildcats are also
12th in the nation. Tarpeh has been named the CACC
Player of the Week three times this season and he is a four-time
first team All-Conference performer. Furthermore, he is a
three-time member of the NSCAA and Daktronics All-Region teams,
respectively. He has netted six game-winning goals thus far in
2009.
Purnell, a 5-8 sophomore midfielder from Hamilton, Bermuda, has tallied 16 points this season behind five goals and six assists. He recently picked up his first collegiate game-winning goal with a tally against Mercy in a 1-0 victory. He also dished out two assists in a recent clash with conference front-runner Wilmington. Purnell was voted to the All-CACC second team and was named conference Rookie of the Week once this season.
Papanicolas was named Coach of the Year after guiding his team to its most successful season since joining the ranks of NCAA Division II. The Wildcats clinched the top seed for the upcoming CACC Tournament, which Wilmington will be hosting November 4-7. The Wildcats are 17-2 overall and ranked 12th nationally. Wilmington is ranked third in the NCAA East Region poll and second in the NSCAA regional poll. Papanicolas also claimed CACC Coach of the Year honors in 2006.
The complete All-CACC Men's Soccer team is listed below. Five Wilmington student-athletes were named to the first team, along with three Dominican Chargers. Dominican senior forward Joe Wright earned first team accolades for the third time in his career.
| FIRST TEAM | |||
| GK Brandon Heembrock | Dominican | So. | Ottawa, Canada |
| D Dave Dease | Wilmington | Sr. | Newfield, NJ |
| D Clifton Huxtable | Dominican | Jr. | Toronto, Canada |
| D Andrew Nelson | Post | Sr. | Windsor, CT |
| D Jamal Wiggins | Wilmington | Jr. | St. Thomas, Trinidad |
| M Nickalus McDonald | Wilmington | So. | Philadelphia, PA |
| M Fatoma Turay | Wilmington | Sr. | Philadelphia, PA |
| M Mike Semedo | Post | Sr. | Waterbury, CT |
| F Svetozar Gladic | Philadelphia | Sr. | Novi Sad, Serbia |
| F Sargbah Tarpeh | Wilmington | Sr. | Philadelphia, PA |
| F Tim Weglicki | Holy Family | So. | Philadelphia, PA |
| F Joe Wright | Dominican | Sr. | Stratford-Upon-Avon, England |
| SECOND TEAM | |||
| GK Duhan Malali | Wilmington | Jr. | Galloway, NJ |
| D Sean Campbell | Philadelphia | Sr. | Westbury, CT |
| D Olof Engh | Caldwell | Jr. | Karlstad, Sweden |
| D Dean Robinson | Post | Sr. | Kingston, Jamaica |
| D Jolston Wattley | Bloomfield | Sr. | St. Kits |
| M Diego Barahona | Dominican | Sr. | Stamford, CT |
| M James Hamilton | Dominican | Sr. | Paisley, Scotland |
| M Johan Pineda | Post | Sr. | Lima, Peru |
| M Ryan Purnell | Philadelphia | So. | Hamilton, Bermuda |
| F Seydou Ba | Holy Family | Jr. | Mauritania |
| F Maurice Johnson | Post | Sr. | Kingston, Jamaica |
| F Angel Rodriguez | Goldey-Beacom | Sr. | Kennett Square, PA |
| Player of the Year | Sargbah Tarpeh | Sr. | Wilmington |
| Rookie of the Year | Ryan Purnell | So. | Philadelphia |
| Coach of the Year | Nick Papanicolas | Wilmington | |
| Team Sportsmanship | Caldwell College |
Honorable Mention: Daniel Ocampo, Jr., D, Nyack; Mike Mousaw, Jr., M, Philadelphia; Pedro DeAraujo, Fr., M, Dominican; Jason Lopez, Jr., M, Holy Family